SPRINGDALE -- The biggest complaint Springdale drivers have is congestion, city leaders agree.
"People don't like to sit still in traffic," said Mayor Doug Sprouse. "And sitting at a stoplight is worse. It always seems longer than it is."
City staff Tuesday night presented the City Council 49 street improvement projects that would be designed to move traffic more fluidly.
These projects are considered priorities for spending street improvement bond money, said Ben Peters, director of the city's Engineering Department.
Springdale voters last month approved a $360 million bond issue, which will include up to $135 million dedicated to the city's streets.
The city last year commissioned a traffic study by Garver engineering firm to help determine where in the city street improvements are needed, Peters said.
Garver determined the projects are important to improve safety or congestion, he said.
Some projects on the list are sure bets for funding because work was started with money from the 2018 bond and needs to be completed, Sprouse said.
"They're shovel-ready," he said. "We can build them while we figure the rest of this out."
But, Sprouse cautioned, some of the 49 projects on the list might not be built right away. Other projects might move up on the list as the city continues its rapid growth.
And City Council members might have projects in mind they prefer to advance, he said. The council must vote to spend money for each individual project, he said.
Federal law requires all bond money be allocated in three years and the spent in five years, Peters said.
Peters noted the approximate total for completion of all 49 projects would be $107.1 million.
"These prices are preliminary estimates," he said. "We know we're wrong, but we don't know how wrong we are," he said with a laugh.
Supply chain issues, labor shortages and inflation have kept construction costs fluctuating.
By the third quarter of 2024, more of these projects will be designed and city leaders will have a better idea of how much they will cost, Peters said.
Representatives of the Planning, Public Works and Engineering departments have been poring over projects for months, he said.
Infrastructure now
Peters said streets are graded like students, on a scale of A to F that engineers use.
"Streets with grades D and F are not meeting the needs of the public," he said.
The intersection of West Sunset Avenue and Interstate 49 receives a big fat F, drivers agreed.
The state Transportation Department has recorded 80,000 cars travel through that intersection every day.
But the city can't upgrade the intersection because the roadways hold federal highway designations and fall under the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Department of Transportation. But the state does have a plan to improve the intersection, Peters said.
The city will consider improvements with traffic cameras at the South 48th Street and Sunset intersection, just west of the interstate, he said.
Council member Brian Powell said Elm Springs Road from Interstate 49 to North 40th Street also must be improved. The Department of Transportation has recorded an average of 33,000 cars passing through that intersection each day.
"We need better infrastructure there now," Powell said.
Garver recommended an eastbound right turn lane on Elm Springs and another northbound turn lane on 40th Street.
Engineers estimated the cost for the project at $2.85 million.
Other intersection improvements proposed by staff include upgrades at Don Tyson Parkway and South Thompson Street (cost estimated at $3.5 million), West Huntsville Avenue and North Thompson Street ($5.5 million), South Pleasant Street and West Sunset Avenue ($8.6 million), Backus Avenue and North Thompson ($10 million) and East Don Tyson Parkway and South Old Missouri Road ($11 million).
Garver's recommendations include dedicated turn lanes in every case.
One entry on the staff list includes 13 projects -- all reconstruction of failing streets. This would entail removing the road and rebuilding it.
The project would replace portions of Shipley Street, Quandt Avenue, Porter Avenue, Highland Avenue, Raedels Avenue, Lutz Road, Julio Road, Dyer Street, Horseshoe Drive, Taylor Avenue, Birchwood Avenue, West Gibbs Road and Robbins Road. The cost estimate is $71.5 million.
Council member Randall Harriman expressed concern about this project.
"I don't even know where some of these streets are," Harriman said. "Some of these are not widely traveled roads. We want that money to help as many people as possible."
Harriman said Public Works Director James Smith explained rebuilding even a small stretch of road is expensive, not something the city's operating budget could cover.
Harriman said his two favorite projects on the list would complete two east-west traffic corridors.
The extension of Har-Ber Avenue, which would include a bridge over Interstate 49, is a new east-west connection designed to relieve traffic at the Elm Springs Road and Sunset intersections with the interstate. The estimated cost is $26.1 million.
The first phase of this project is currently under construction from Gustensohn Road to North 40th Street.
Harriman's other favorite project would be building West Don Tyson Parkway from Gene George Boulevard west to Arkansas 112. This section would provide a connection with Arkansas 112, where the Transportation Department plans improvements. The estimated cost is $36.6 million.
"These are big deals for Springdale, connecting the east and west," Harriman said.
Other projects ready for the next phase of construction include Gene George Boulevard north from Elm Springs Road to County Line Road (cost estimated at $5.3 million) and two phases south, to New Hope Road ($33 million) and Johnson Mill Boulevard ($47.3 million). Plans also include South 64th Street from Watkins Avenue to Don Tyson Parkway at $83 million.
Council member Rex Bailey said he was pleased to see the priorities included the southeastern quadrant of town, which he represents. With much of the city's growth coming to the west side of town, the east sometimes feels left out, he said.
An extension of Don Tyson Parkway east to Habberton Road is on the priority list, as are improvements to the Don Tyson intersections at South Thompson Street and Old Missouri Road. The intersection improvements are estimated at $13.5 million. A cost for an extension of Tyson east was not available.
The staff also proposes extending and improving Albright Road from Butterfield Coach Road to Hylton Road at an estimated $76.7 million cost.
Albright Road would be a southern route to bypass Don Tyson Parkway if there is traffic, said Patsy Christie, the city's director of planning.
"The city of Fayetteville is across the street there, and they are building all kinds of houses there," Bailey reported.
Down the road
City leaders also have their eyes on the road to 2045, when Springdale's population is expected to reach 180,000 and Northwest Arkansas 1 million, Sprouse said.
An extension of County Line Road from Lowell Road a half mile west of the road's intersection with North Thompson Street would provide another entrance to apartment complexes developed north of Cooper Drive, Christie said. The estimated cost is $67.2 million.
Sprouse said this might be part of a future extension of County Line Road to Interstate 49. He noted County Line's location a mile south of Wagon Wheel Road and a mile north of Elm Springs Road makes it a good location for another interchange with the interstate.
It also is the last location for an interchange in Springdale, he said.
Just getting approval from the federal government for an interchange takes about 10 years and would cost a lot of money, Sprouse said. That project would have to be part of a future bond issue, he said.
Powell said he sees the need for an extension of Falcon Street east of the interstate to Bob Mills Road on the west.
"There are so many subdivisions planned out there, we will need as many east-west routes as we can have to reach the west side," he said.